Nintendo and Their Flying Rodents

So, Lance was out running errands, and he ended up at BestBuy with all three boys (there is an extremely high probability that the world would end if I were to ever set foot in a store with all three boys in tow, but because I love him, I insist that Lance do any and all shopping thus triple laden).  Anyhoo, apparently Nintendo had a little booth to which a new 3DS was quite literally chained, but which could also be played by passers-by.  As if that weren't enough, for the smaller guinea pigs, they also had a gimmicky set of ears and a tail.  As each of the boys took his turn playing the thing, none could be talked out of doing so as a raccoon (I guess that's what that is).  Too cute.  P.S. This was written by Kristy, NOT Lance.

School pictures

We recently got the school pictures back for both of our sweet older boys. I love the pictures, but why do they have to make them look so grown up!!

Mikey, Kindergarten

Luke, Preschool

Happy Halloween!

Of course the boys have all been counting down to Halloween for a LONG time. So it was a good thing we had numerous opportunities to get all dolled up. We went with the whole Star Wars theme this year. Dad: Anakin, Mom: Queen Amidala, Mikey: Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke: Luke (hee hee) Skywalker, and Joey: Our little Yoda.

I know, a lot of these pictures are of Joey doing different things. I just couldn't get over him. He was the cutest thing ever in his little costume. Most of my pictures couldn't quite capture how cute he was, but some come close. And he was surprising good at a keeping his costume on.

First up
Mimi and Bampa's Halloween Party:

Anakin and Yoda: (See! Look how cute!)


The whole Star Wars clan:

The Jedi Knights:
Yoda finally got a hold of a light saber:
The dip I provided (it was actually ridiculously tasty):
Now onto event number two

Ward Halloween Party:

You should have seen Joey running around the gym in that robe. So cute.



The Young Men and Young Women were in charge of the activities. Lance is one of the leaders and came up with a Plink-O game. So they made him made him make the board. It turned out great and everyone loved it! (And someone has already borrowed it for a party they were having.) That's my talented husband, folks. :)

Here's Mikey taking his turn:
Joey wouldn't leave Lance's side through the whole game, whether it was the game or dad (or both), who knows.
Luke taking his turn:
And finally
Trick-or-Treating:

What a good-looking group :)

Did I mention how cute he was in his costume? So cute :)
Everyone else took pictures on our front steps, so I figured we should, too.

Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin time

Lance was up to his old tricks again this year. You know, I carve one pumpkin, he carves four. And he really did an amazing job this year. While passing out candy I got many, many comments on the amazing-ness of Lance's creations. There were even a few families who stopped and made their kids pose on our front steps in front of them. :)

First here is mine. I used a template and all that "shading" of that background was purely accidental. Lance tries to teach me how to do it right, but I just kind of hack through to get it done.

For the boys Lance asks them what they want, goes and looks at pictures online and lets them pick. Risky, if you ask me, but he does it and does a fabulous job. This next one here is Mikey's:

Here is Luke's (Lance was a little relieved he chose a simple pattern):

And here is Joey's (pretty sure Luke and Mikey conspired on the decision):

And finally, for the finale. This was Lance's masterpiece. I think a few guys offered to buy it :)

So proud :)

First time for everything...

I have purchased many an item such as the one pictured below for I have given many a baby gift to those having girls.

But this is the first item of the pink variety that I have ever purchased...for myself.

Because this baby is NOT a boy! We are thrilled, but trying to prepare for our balls, trucks, and superhero world to be turned upside down!

(Okay, I must admit that due to my previously-mentioned bleeding/abruption problem I have had a handful of ultrasounds between 14 and 17 weeks. At each ultrasound the doctor said he would guess it was girl. But always it was followed by a, "but the tech will look again during your big ultrasound to confirm because it's still early." So we've had a few weeks to prepare for this possible verdict. It took us a minute to shift gears, but we are thrilled and it seems like exactly what we need.)

Baby Joey

Our baby Joey isn't quite so baby any more. He's getting to be quite the little man. He's a walking, climbing champ. In fact, he's such a great little climber that he won't stay off of Mikey's loft/bunk bed and finally fell off the thing. It was a pretty good fall, but I think he was mostly just scared. He was all smiles 15 minutes later.

Mikey loves his brother :)

One of his newest fascinations is with forks. He loves forks. He will eat almost anything he can stab with a fork. How was this discovered? Whenever he ended up in his highchair with a toy in his hands he would attempt to stab his food. Case in point:

After receiving some Motrin for aching teeth, I let him hold on to to the syringe. I filled his tray with bits of french toast or something, but after a minute we all noticed that Joey was stabbing his food with the syringe and putting into his mouth. So cute. :)

We usually provide him with a fork now. But the syringe actually seemed to work pretty well.

There is nothing he will eat more of than noodles and marinara sauce. He can eat more than both his brothers combined. The only problem is the clean up required after.

Oh how I love my Joe. I just can't get enough of him.

First Days

I know, these are a little late as the first day of school was like a month and a half ago, but what can I say. It's been busy.

Here is my little Luke, who is getting way too big, eating breakfast on his first day of school. He had been waiting for this day for at least a year--ever since he started realizing where Mikey was going three times week.

So excited!

And so handsome :)

Here he is just before jumping out of the car. (And there is Mikey still in his PJ's because kindergarteners don't get to actually start the first week of school due to testing. He was NOT happy having the tables turned on who got to go to school and who didn't.)

And finally it was Mikey's turn. He was so excited.

And what's more, the whole neighborhood of kids walk together to school and he LOVES it. (I'm just wondering how long that will last. I have many, many memories of walking to and from school and not one of being super excited about it. )

Tiny Heartbeats

As you probably know, this is my fourth pregnancy. I've gone through three full pregnancies. Do you know what you do at every single appointment? You listen to the heartbeat. That tiny, super-fast baby heartbeat. In fact, in a lot of those middle appointments, all you do is hear the heartbeat. I figure I've been to around 40 prenatal appointments. Yes, that tiny heartbeat is always good to hear, but I admit it has become a little less exciting than it was that first time. In fact, a week ago Tuesday, I went to my monthly appointment and later commented on the hour I spent entertaining Joey in the waiting room and in the exam room for 15 seconds of heartbeat listening.

Well I now take back my lackadaisical attitude toward the heartbeat ritual.

Last Sunday at around 3:45 in the afternoon I started to bleed. I started to bleed A LOT! A lot, a lot, a lot. More than any pregnant lady should unless she has just given birth. Well, and then I guess she's not really pregnant anymore so still more than any pregnant lady ever should. I was...I don't know how to describe what I was feeling. I was panicked, and devastated, and shocked, and scared, and panicked (did I say that already?), and I don't know, everything else you might imagine.

And most of all, I was pretty sure of what had just happened.

Well, obviously we up and ran to the hospital. Once in the ER, we sat around and waited (while the most inept medical team drifted in and out not listening to me for hours. No seriously, I think it was the third nurse I'd seen, who stated she would be "my" nurse, asked me if this was different from my regular menstrual bleeding...uh...yeah...mostly because I'm 14 weeks pregnant. "OH! Okay" was her reply. Seriously. Don't go to the ER on Sunday evening. ) Anyway, for close to two hours, I laid there and continued to bleed...A LOT. A lot, a lot, a lot.

Finally, as we neared the two hour mark, they finally wheeled me into the ultrasound room. Though I had been dying for them to do this for almost two hours, as the time finally came, I was terrified to confirm what I was all but certain of.

Well the nice ultrasound lady finally got started. She put the little magic wand thingy on my belly and for the first few seconds I just saw some circle-y things and was trying to figure out what I was looking at. And then, all of a sudden that sweet, tiny, baby heartbeat came blasting through the speakers!

Of course it was all I had hoped for, but didn't dare to wish for. I still, almost a week later, am amazed that that tiny heartbeat was still there and going strong after all I had just been though. It still seems impossible that this little baby is still in there and kicking.

Well, after about a half an hour of looking at everything from every angle you could possibly imagine, the tech said she couldn't see anything wrong. A half an hour later we got the same report from the doctor and from the radiologist.

I thought that was good and bad. Obviously I was thrilled that nothing seemed to be wrong with the baby! Though, still wondering why all that had happened. They said go home and rest and see your doctor as soon as you can.

So the next day, I went to my OB. With another ultrasound, now almost a day later, he was able to see more blood building up around the placenta and it looked like it was coming from a little tear where the placenta is coming away from the wall. Right now it's just little--only like 10%. It could be fine the whole rest of the pregnancy, or it could keep bleeding, and/or it could get worse. I'm on pelvic rest for now and will see my doctor again next week. The hardest part is that my poor baby Joey is so sad and wondering why I won't pick him up anymore :( It is breaking my heart. But of course it is worth it for the baby. (And I still cuddle him all that I can on my lap!)

So for now I'm good. And most of all, I am so grateful for tiny, baby heartbeats.

10 More...

I suppose the time has come to put this out there.

Coming in March we will be bring home 10 more little fingers and 10 more little toes. :)

Congratulations!!

And the Bar has been passed!!! Wa hoo! Way to go Lance! :)

By Luke

Just wanted to share a little bit of Luke's art work. He was rather proud in spite of the trouble he was in.

Yes, that's our dining room. He colored in EVERY. SINGLE. SQUARE. (It's also possible that this happened like a month ago and only half of the squares are clean--it takes more elbow grease than I have most days :)

The Wisdom of a Five-Year-Old

I currently have a five-year-old, and he is very, very wise. Much wiser than I was, I’m sure. But his wisdom is not the wisdom to which I am referring.

27 years ago I was five years old. I started kindergarten with my best friend Ashley. I still remember my first day and for many, many years have chuckled at the first conversation Ashley and I had inside those doors.

We sat just inside those doors in the entry way/mud room and proceeded to say things such as, “Can you believe how old we are?!” “I can’t believe we’re in kindergarten.” “We are so old!”

For so many years, I have thought about how silly and funny we were. I have been wrong. Tomorrow my baby is starting kindergarten. All these years, the grown-up me has been wrong. I'm realizing that those five-year-old little girls actually knew a thing or two. They were right. Five is so old and so grown-up. I can’t believe my baby is so grown-up and starting kindergarten. (He has started to tell me, "mom, I don't want you to cry!" Tough cookies, kid. It's happening 'cause that's how I roll.)

Good luck, Mikey! We are so excited for you!

Thoughtless Semi-Nude Teenage Boys

So, Mikey had been begging to go on a hike, and things had been kind of crazy and non-stop lately. Though darkness was going to be an issue if both Mikey and Luke made it all the way to the lake we were shooting for, we decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. As it turns out, both boys were absolute troopers. Mikey expressed concern about having to come back down all the way we'd come up, because it was probably a good 45 minutes up the mountain, there was really a shocking absence of whining and complaining the whole way both ways (Luke did 90% of the way back down on my shoulders, so I guess I shouldn't have expected too much complaining there).



Well, we made it, and both boys spent every precious moment at the water's edge trying to hit the too-tame ducks that foolishly wandered in our direction. It was a lot of fun, and I'm very proud of my boys (except for the throwing rocks at ducks part, but we'll cover that later).

Getting back to the headline, on the way up the mountain, there was a young man who passed us as he ran up the trail for a tough workout. He was sporting gym shorts and an Ipod, and a shirt was conspicuously absent. This conversation ensued:

Mikey: Dad, that guy didn't have a shirt on.
Me: Yup, he sure didn't.
Mikey: Why didn't he have a shirt on?
Me: I dunno. He was probably hot and it's cooler without a shirt on.
Mikey: It's pretty un-polite when people don't wear shirts, isn't it?
Me: I suppose it is.

Alone time without children...

Mikey just informed us that since he will be starting school and out of the house we will have much more time to discuss all the surprises we have for him.

Center of the World

Our little Joey is the center of the world in our house. The older boys are sad when he's asleep and excited when he wakes up and spend most of their time trying to get him to laugh, which usually really isn't too hard. He does have a pretty awesome laugh.

He is now quite the little walker. He took his first steps way back in the middle of July, but then seemed to decide that crawling was the preferred method of travel. But now all of sudden in the last week or two he has just taken off running. Well, not actually running, but still walking everywhere.

But before he could even walk, he was obsessed with climbing. It's frightening at times. Mikey has a very high bunk bed and Joey climbs right to top if I'm not there to intervene. All my boys climb. They're boys. But none quite like Joey.

One of his secretly cute, but outwardly embarrassing habits is his slapping. Yes, slapping. When holding him, you must be on guard at all times. He is all smiles and laughing and suddenly SLAP! He smiles through the whole thing and if it didn't hurt it would be funny. We stifle laughs to try and teach him, but he still thinks it's all part of a game. It gets embarrassing when the younger neighborhood girls come up to him in church falling all over him. He lures them in with his big cute smile and then WHACK!

The kid is actually a pretty good eater. Clearly he loves spaghetti. But he also loves crayons. I mean, Mikey tried crayons now and then, but Joey seems to REALLY enjoy them. He gets down right upset when you try to take one away from him while he's eating it. I'm always torn with just allowing the Crayola snack as it does seem to just pass on through, if you know what I mean. Or to take it away and deal with the screaming child. Depends on my mood.

Just can't get enough of that kid

Parker = Trouble

I admit it. When my kids are in serious trouble, I use their middle names. Luke, being 3, is perhaps in the most "naughty" stage of all the boys so he hears it a lot more than the others. "Luke PARKER!" is often heard in our house.

Well, Luke definitely knows he's in trouble when hears it, but apparently he doesn't know its origins. The other day as Luke was getting mad at Mikey for something, he suddenly yelled, "Mikey PARKER!" (Of course then a new argument ensued when Mikey started yelling, "No, I'm Michael Brennan! YOU are Luke Parker!") He still doesn't get it. We now also hear, "Joey Parker!" come out of his mouth now and then when he's mad at Joey.